ORLANDO — Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy wants to assure Star Wars fans of one thing — Luke Skywalker is going to play an integral part of Star Wars: The Last Jedi.

“He is significantly important to this next film,” Kennedy said to thousands of fans prior to the debut of the first teaser trailer and poster for The Last Jedi at the Orlando Convention Centre Friday.

Mark Hamill’s Luke Skywalker famously showed up in the final seconds of The Force Awakens and didn’t utter a single line of dialogue.

Hamill recalled reading the script for Episode VII and trying to guess when his character would come into the story.

“I thought when you were in the forest, here I’d be,” he said looking at Daisy Ridley (Rey). “Then the lightsaber starts trembling and flies into the hands of… Rey?” he said laughing. “She didn’t even do any training.”

Ridley joked from the Galaxy Stage that the sequel’s biggest surprise will be, “Luke’s first words.”

Luke figures prominently in several scenes of the trailer and is heard saying ominously, “I only know one truth. It’s time for the Jedi to end.”

Ridley promised that The Last Jedi will delve deeper into Rey’s story.

“Rey has a certain expectation as to what she might be getting from Luke. … It's difficult when you meet your heroes because it might not be what you expect."

Director Rian Johnson — who stayed up into the wee hours to sign autographs for fans that had camped out overnight — praised the best “fan family in the world” as he snapped photos from the stage with his Leica camera.

Johnson, who previously helmed Looper, admitted he found the task of following up JJ Abrams’ The Force Awakens daunting but Kennedy assuaged those fears.

“He has an amazing uniqueness to what he does,” she said to thunderous applause. He writes amazingly fierce and independent women.”

Kennedy also hailed the late Carrie Fisher’s “remarkable performance” in the film.

Josh Gad — who hosted the event — tried in vain to solve the mystery of the film’s title. He even tried to get BB-8 to spoil the surprise.

Though Oscar Isaac (Poe) and Adam Driver (Kylo Ren) were no-shows at the panel, John Boyega (Finn) and new cast member Kelly Marie Tran (Rose, part of the Resistance) teased fans with new story details.

“Finn definitely stood up for himself at the end of Force Awakens and caught a bit of an injury. So he's in recovery, but he'll definitely be back in The Last Jedi, and he's not playing this time,” Boyega said.

Johnson said Tran’s character will quickly become a fan favourite.

She isn’t looking to become a hero, he said, but “she gets pulled into an adventure with Finn.”

BB-8 will also feature heavily in the new film.

“The best advice I got was, you can’t have enough BB-8,” Johnson grinned. “He’s the Buster Keaton of this movie.”

The Last Jedi picks up directly after the cliffhanger scene with Luke and Rey that ended the Force Awakens.

“To a certain extent, it’s not Luke’s story anymore. But he’s an important part of the overall saga,” Hamill said of his character. Still, he had trepidation about being more of a central part of The Last Jedi.

“I said to (Rian), ‘One of the reasons I loved Rogue One and the prequels is I wasn’t in them. We had a beginning, middle and end. … So I’m terrified. And he said, ‘So am I.’ That’s a director I can love.”

The experience of making The Last Jedi, though, was a highlight for Hamill as he called working with Johnson “top of the list.”

He was also happy that he’s going to appear for more than three seconds in the upcoming film.

“That’s good to hear,” he deadpanned.

Musing about his brief cameo at the end of Force Awakens Hamill said, “Maybe they should have printed ‘To Be Continued’ on my forehead.”